Missouri lawmakers pass school standards measure

Missouri lawmakers finalized legislation Thursday that would charge groups of parents and educators with writing new student achievement benchmarks, potentially paving the way for the state to ditch national education goals.

Missouri's State Board of Education adopted the Common Core standards in 2010. More than 40 other states have adopted the standards, and only Indiana has opted to ditch the goals in favor of writing its own.

The Republican-led Senate voted 23-6 to send the bill to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. It cleared the House with a 135-10 vote earlier Thursday.